Plot: What’s it about?
In Tobacco Roody, we watch as the estate of moonshine master Mose Mason (Johnny Rocco) is involved in countless scandalous deeds. Of course, these folks don’t live their lives by normal standards and they seek to have as much fun as possible, so they indulge in ample booze, smoke, and of course, pleasures of the flesh. So when Mason finds himself approached by a French tourist, his beautiful niece, and whoever else might need some gratification, he never refuses and handles them all, even if one after another service is needed. But all is not always so light on Mason’s ranch, as the mortgage is overdue by well over a year’s payments, the sheriff is poking around the place, and well, its just hard to keep up with so many young, horny women. But if anyone can take on all these problems and still keeping pushing on, its Mason and thanks to some moonshine and weed, he just might make it after all. In Southern Comforts, a sleazy con artist sets up shop in the barn of a perverted old man known as The Colonel. He stages a beauty contest, gets local girls to remove their clothes, and does whatever the law allows. But the law is very interested in his skin laden business, though not in a negative fashion. So when even the law sides with a flesh peddler, is there any hope for good old fashioned morals?
The backwoods antics of the assorted hillbillies seen in these two movies are enough to make you laugh yourself silly, as both movies are a pure hoot. As the case promises, these movies have some of the dumbest characters ever seen on film, which means tons of laughs, unless you happen to be one of the backwards hicks represented, of course. You’ll see inbreeding, moonshine drinkin’, weed smokin’, overalls around every corner, and of course, those wonderful country beauties, in all of their splendor. The dim male characters add the humor into the movies, but its the country chicks that steal the show, thanks to their cute faces, hot bodies, and willingness to drop linen in front of the cameras. Its hard to be critical of movies like Tobacco Roody and Southern Comforts, since its obvious the filmmakers were out to make a fun, wild picture and in each case, I think they were able to live up to those expectations. As both films were Harry Novak produced, they’re loaded down with naked woman of all kinds and while the other elements come up thin, the main attraction here is the flesh and there’s ample women on showcase. These are just fun, brisk movies that don’t try to make a point or offer social commentary, they simply want to entertain. So to fans of Novak’s kind of cinema, this double feature is more than recommended.
Video: How does it look?
The movies are both presented in full frame transfers. These look to be open matte editions and as I doubt excellent source prints were easy to come by, I think fans will be glad the movies look as good as they do here. The prints look better than I expected, but still show some grain & debris, which is worse in some scenes than others. But given the nature of these films, I think the prints have held up well and look quite clean on the whole. The colors are vivid and bold throughout, while black levels seem a little bright, but still more than effective. Not the kind of material to demonstrate your home theater with, but when you think about the materials involved, I think Something Weird has done some fine work here.
Audio: How does it sound?
The audio for both films is presented via mono tracks, which seem to handle the material well enough. These aren’t the kind of flicks to demand dynamic sound anyway, so not much is lost in terms of surround presence. The dialogue is clean in both mixes, but a little harsh at times in Strangler, though not enough to complain much about. Aside from some minor age related issues, these are about as good as you could expect, given the age and nature of the movies. You won’t be blown away by the audio on either picture, but the basics are covered and that’s enough in these cases, so no real complaints.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The main attraction here is an audio commentary track with Harry Novak, who is joined by several other folks, most of whom work in the home video business. This is a light, enjoyable session, in which Novak fawns all over the female stars and once and a while, delivers a nugget of behind the scenes insight. But Novak fans should be pleased, as he talks a lot about his career and production methods, as well as his humor and comments on the naked women. You can also view the theatrical trailers for both featured movies, as well as trailers for a host of other bumpkin based pictures. In addition to some exploitation artwork, you can check out two bonus short films, Hillbilly Bride and Take Me Back to West Virginia.
